Rasmus Schuller and Bobby Shuttleworth back in full practice, Marc Burch still out

Bobby Shuttleworth was back training with the goalkeepers while midfielder Rasmus Schuller participated in a full Minnesota United FC practice Friday. Left-back Marc Burch, however, missed his second-straight day of training ahead of United's 5 p.m. Sunday clash against the Colorado Rapids at TCF Bank Stadium.

Shuttleworth endured a head laceration and concussion in this past Saturday's 2-2 draw at the Houston Dynamo while Schuller also left the match with a hip flexor injury. Burch played the whole match but picked up a groin strain. He practiced on Wednesday but missed the next two sessions.

"He's been day-to-day. We didn't want to take any risks," Heath said of Burch. "But we expect him to be fit for the weekend. ... We hope he's going to be fine."

As for Shuttleworth and Schuller, Heath said he'll wait to see how the two recover from Friday's heavier workload.

"Barring any overnight problems and reacting to the work he's done today, we expect him to be OK and available for selection," Heath said of Shuttleworth. "If Bobby is fit and well, he'll start."

Heath said the focus of practice Friday was reinforcing the good aspects of his team's play while also trying to eradicate some of the mistakes that keep costing United goals. However, the last part is a hard one to coach out of his players.

"Some of this you can't actually train on," Heath said. "As a group, you can. But individually, you just hope people make the right choice at the right time."

"It was very much two guys who were in the wall should have been picking up, and two of the guys who were picking up should have been in the wall," he said. "And the ball was in one of them sort of areas where you're not quite sure, is he going to have a shot? Is he going to cross it? And we picked the wrong one."

The coach said he's spoke to his players about the issue of decision-making as well as done "hours and hours" of film watching and practicing on the topic. But ultimately, he has made it clear that if players continue to make poor choices again and again, they will lose their place in the lineup.

Someone possibly on his way into the starting lineup, though, is forward Abu Danladi, whom Heath has been heaping praise upon the past few weeks. After dealing with some early season injuries, the No. 1 draft pick seems to have finally hit his stride at the professional level.

"I can tell I've never been as fit as I am now, ever since I started my three years in college." Danladi said. "I've been able to work with the trainers to be able to get me where I am now. I've never been fitter."

And as far as Heath's classification of Danladi as one of the jokers on the team, along with right-back Jerome Thiesson, the rookie had to agree.

(Also, if you haven't yet, check out my story on former United player and current Colorado player Mohammed Saeid!)